The gold price rose during Asian trading hours on Thursday after the July meeting minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) raised concerns over persistent inflation and gave no indication that a September interest rate hike was for sure.
Spot gold was last at $1,136.9/1,137.2 per ounce, up $4.2 on Wednesday’s close. Trading has ranged from $1,132.8-1,137.2 so far.
“Uncertainty surrounding a potential September rate rise continues to support the precious metals in Asia today and we have seen little in the way of profit taking thus far,” said MKS Capital in a Thursday morning note.
“Gold continues to show a strong bid bias and looks likely for a move higher, potentially testing resistance around $1,145-$1,150,” it added.
Gold is also getting support from the retreat in equities and the turbulent currency market, said ANZ Research.
“Given that commodity prices have fallen further since the FOMC meeting, it is a fair assessment by the market that the odds of rates being lifted next month are not as high as it was,” it said.
“And in the bigger picture, it is difficult to really see all this as ‘good news’ given the fact that global economies are not playing by the usual rules. The longer official rates remain at (practically) zero, the greater the distortions will be,” ANZ added.
In equities, the Chinese stock market continued to languish on Thursday morning trading after oil prices fell to a six-year low. The Shanghai composite index was down 0.91 percent so far to 3,759.494 on Thursday morning.
The US benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude oil price settled 4 percent down at $40.80 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday, its lowest close since March 2009, after the US Energy Information Association said US crude stocks were up 2.6 million barrels at 456.21 million barrels last week.
In other precious metals, silver was at $15.34/15.39 per ounce, up $0.09. Platinum was at $1,016/1,021, up $10, while palladium gained $6 to $611/616 so far on Thursday morning.
On the Shanghai Futures Exchange, gold for December delivery was unchanged at 236.10 yuan per gram, while December silver was flat at 3,473 yuan per kilogram recently on Thursday morning.
The post Gold up on US interest rate hike uncertainty appeared first on The Bullion Desk.
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